“WARNING: The video you are about to watch is incredibly gory, violent, and features strong sexual violence including rape and sexual assault. Bloody-Disgusting does not endorse or condone any of the actions seen in this video. It is to be viewed as entertainment only.”

That’s the warning that appeared in advance of Bloody Disgusting’s premiere not long ago for the new official video by Cattle Decapitation for “Forced Gender Reassignment”, a track off their decimating 2012 album Monolith of Inhumanity. And that warning appeared after the site explained that the video had been rejected by both YouTube and Vimeo.

I took all this with a grain of salt. I mean, let’s face it, we live in a culture totally stuffed with hype, because hyperbole sells. Having now watched the video, I’m here to tell you: The warning is not hype. Mitch Massie has made something utterly foul and disturbing, with explicit scenes of torture and rape and the brutalization of human flesh. It’s so NSFW that you’re probably not even safe watching it in the same city where you work.

In theory, there was apparently a point to be made by this video, one connected to the lyrics. According to a press release, “‘Forced Gender Reassignment’ is a gory, obscenely graphic and explicitly intense story of what could happen when the tables are turned on a group of people whose faith blinds them to the point of being unable to mind their own business and just letting others be themselves.”

Cattle Decap’s idea of turning the tables apparently is to fantasize about taking people whose offense consists of rancid public expressions of ignorant bigotry and subjecting them to the most awful forms of degradation and butchery.

I don’t take this kind of shit too seriously — I mean, it’s a fuckin’ metal video, ain’t it? Still, I really don’t find this to be entertainment, and I think it’s ridiculous to claim this draws useful attention to some kind of symbolic point by being outrageous — which is what Travis Ryan seems to be saying in his quoted statement about the video: “It seems nowadays you have to be over the top in your presentation to get anyone to think about anything anymore.”

The only thought I’m having at the moment is whether I’ll recover my appetite by dinnertime.

If gore is a natural byproduct of the action, like in any action or horror movie, fine. It’s when your making gore not only the byproduct, but the cause as well. There is a plethora of other ways they could have made their point but they instead opted for gore to make that point. Which ends up making gore the focus, not their original “message”.

This is a really stupid way to make that “point.” Anyone who watches this video is not going to think, “Oh, look how the tables have turned against these bigots, don’t they feel silly now.” They’re going to see some lunatic acting out a revenge fantasy. As you mention, Islander, the outrageousness completely obscures any point they’re trying to make. And they’ve even lost the goddamn moral high ground, which I thought was impossible to do when you’re making a statement against the Westboro Baptist Church (or people like them). I am aware that the members of Cattle Decapitation do not actually want to torture and murder religious zealots, but what they do in the video is not a proportional response to these people even in terms of revenge fantasy. It’s not “turning the tables,” and it’s certainly not effective in making a profound point (and seriously, if you want to attack organized religion, you could do a lot better than the Westboro Baptist Church; yes, we fucking know they’re assholes, any decent human being knows they’re assholes, they’re insignificant little shits who just do it for the attention, criticize something that actually makes a difference).

Maybe I’m just super desensitized from decades of horror and metal, but I think for the most part it’s perfect visual accompaniment for a song about forced gender reassignment. Being that its fantasy violence against WBC or such is icing on the cake for me.

I probably should have been up-front about my own tastes. Explicit horror is my least favorite movie genre, followed closely by inexplicit horror (although I’m a fan of gore-drenched death metal and brutal death metal).

Totally agreed. I’m not saying anyone should go out and do these things, but as an avid horror lover, sometimes the creator of the work is aiming to express and/or provoke something very visceral. Also, you can’t sing the praises of people who write songs about being fucked with a knife, ect., and then be bummed out when somebody realises that very same vision in a different medium… film, in this case. Fuck that took some work to type on a goddamned playstation.

No question — as a way to grab attention and get people talking about the band, this thing is a huge success. Shock value will do that for sure, especially in metal. I just wish Ryan hadn’t made that comment about it having some other purpose, ie, getting people to think about fundamentalist bigots trying to interfere with the lives of other people. Ain’t buying that.

I think I’ll pass on this one. I ingulge in the occasional gore image every now and then, but film is a bit different than images. Even if I know it’s fake. I love gory movies, but it usually serves a purpose other than to utterly disgust you.

Either way, CD wins for getting everyone to talk about them. Will go down as another successful 2012 publicity stunt in heavy music. Agalloch with a 20+ minute one-song EP, Death Grips for their boner art/supposed rebellion against their label (don’t quite buy that), and now Cattle Decapitation for most disgusting music video.

As noted above, it definitely succeeds as a heavy metal publicity stunt. I’d put the recent videos by Nekrogoblikon and Infant Annihilator on your list, too. And that Give Zombies the Vote video featured in one of our 10/17 posts is racking up a shitload of views in a very short time, too. Good marketing.

But the Agalloch EP seems kind of out of place on that list. It may be an unusual piece of music, but they’re just t letting the music speak for itself, aren’t they?

please, the video is NOT shocking at all! don’t you people watch flicks like saw, hostel or human centipede??? this shit is not new (while it is certainly amazing beyond belief). the music is really something, the vocals are psychotic and the guitars just blew me away. so, keep your panties on, shocked citizens… great stuff.

Was that supposed to be his rectum or his intestines when he was using the drill? Either way the video without the lyrics seems like a run of the mill or “drill” torture porn to me. But props to FX designers for making it look like real blood, making it dark crimson, pure raw art.